This week:
So this week started off with last Pday. We stormed the Castelo Dos Mouros in Sintra. Its this castle ontop of this HUGE steep mountain hill thing. Thats covered with dense trees and HUGE boulders. We climbed up the face of the mountain and climbed the castle wall and raided the castle! it was way fun. Lot of hard work too...i was exhaused!
Our investigators are doing really well. Except i have some bad news....so i´ll start with that. Our chinese investigators are no more. They started talking with the Jehovas Witnesses again....and.....they dont want us to pass by again....sigh...oh well.
But we have some cool new investigators. Like Sabastian. hes 21 yrs old from Senegal. Hes really cool and nice. Hes a DJ too! its been cool talking with him and teaching him. He has a great desire to learn.
We also have this brazilian named Wallace that works for the Post office. Hes really cool and really humble. Hopefully things go well with him.
I also have a cool story that happened this Saturday. The elders of Mafra were having a baptism so we decided to take our investigator Elizabete to see. (Shes doing really well by the way....we still are trying to work with her boyfriend that shes living with.) But anyway, we get to the baptism and i shake hands witht he person getting baptised, its this middle aged brazilian lady and I recognised her. I sat down and then it hit me! I found and taught her when i was in Oeiras! I went back to her and asked her if she lived in Oeiras, she said ya. Shes this Investigator named Maura. She worked as a maid person for this big house in Oeiras and we were teaching her and even invited her to be baptised but she wouldnt cuz of her husband who was living in Mafra. We got the addresss of her husband and sent it to Mafra, but nothing came of that. She went to church a couple times...but then stopped progressing and we eventually dropped her. Well i guess she moved to mafra, and the missionaries passed by her again and now she got baptised! it was a really cool experience seeing someone that I had taught 1 and a half years ago finally get baptised!~
Also this week we tried to get a bunch of people at church cuz we were havign a special missionary/easter sacrament meeting and Pres Terry was going to speak. So we invited 5 inactive members that havent been to church in a while, and.....they ALL came! it was awesome.
Also, after church we went out and made contacts in the street with the members and one of the inactive members was making really good contacts and is really excited for missionary work now! its really cool!
and thats about it
Tchau
-Rhett
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Dog Bite!
Hey everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the april fools joke last week! now moving on to this week!
Our investigators are doing well. Omid (whos marked for baptism) is being a slacker though. Hes too busy and is having a hard time making time for us to come teach him and go to church. we havent taught him in over a week. I think next time we talk to him weºll talk about getting his priorities in order. Cuz he really does have time, he just gets too involved with his Karate and other stuff and doesnt have enough time for us. Weºll talk about what Elder Bednar said when he came here. He said Everyone has the same amount of time in the day, 24 hours. So the excuses of "i didnt have time to read, or I didnt have time to have family night" are not good excuses. You really should be saying "I dont value scriptures enough to read them and I dotn value family night enough to have it." it was really cool. Hopefully heºll realize whats really important.
As far as our Chinese Jehovas Witnesses...they are doing really well. WE had a lesson with them and taught them the plan of salvation. We read alot out of the book of mormon. We gave them verses and they read them together in chinese. It was really cool seeing them really read to understand whats inside the verses. They read, discussed amoung eachother, read again to really make sure they understood it. Thats something that just doesnt happen lots with other people. But the bad news is that when we were teaching, alot of the JW beliefs came out. Like they belive adam was a horrible man and screwed up the plan of god. And the one big one Jian Ke has a problem with is that our soul just doesnt die with us when we die, that it keeps on living. The JWs believe that when you die, you are DEAD untill the ressurection...when only the righteous will live on the earth. But we told them they just ahve to read and pray about it. Hopefully they will.
Oh and this week, i got bit by a dog! Finally i get to have a mission story about a dog! but its not very exciting. We were at a members house and they have this little puppy, and we ate over there and were cleaning up and the puppy kept on trying to open the trashcan to eat the chicken bones. I kept on shewing it away and i shewed him away for the 3rd time and he nipped at me. Bit me on the knuckle of my middle finger. It started bleeding...but it isnt bad at all, just a little tiny mark. haha. And we also gave that dog a bath before that, cuz we´re doing a service week.
Also, another funny story. We were walking down the street and there was this dude that was like "OHH ELDERS!! HI!" making fun of us. he continued "how are you today with your little ties and shirts and name bags. haha, your not understanding a word im saying" I was just staring at him the whole time, then responded, "actually, i understood everyting you said." that caught him by surprise "oh....well....i see....how long have you been here?" "a year and 9 months" "oh...so I guess you do understand a little....well....it was good talking to you, bye" and he left. it was really funny. Stupid people..... :P
Also, conference was really good. I, like my mom, really enjoyed elder Hollands talk. Hes my favorite speaker of the Apostles. I really liked it. I also really liked Pres Eyerings talk about Man Down. He told the story of the movie blackhawk down.
But all in all it was a good week.
Have a great Easter this Sunday! We wont be able to color eggs, cuz the eggs here are brown! haha
Keep it real and remember to ease it like a sunday morning!
-Elder Rhett
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Livin in a Gangstas Paradise.
Man, you thought last week was cool, wait for this week....well its cool but in a different way.
So last night, we were walking home from an appointment that got over kinda late...so we were late getting home. It was already almost 10. And Cacém here is kinda a ghetto area, so lots of the time at night its not good to be out and about. But anyway, we were walking and we heard some shouting, we look over and right by some stairs there were these 2 black kids (about 16 or 17) beating the crap out of this other kid. He was huddled over on the ground as they were kicking him....bloody all over. I yelled at them "hey! what are you doing!!?" (in portuguese of course) they looked over and one of the kids starts yellin "what?! what!?" and they left the kid on the ground and started walking toward us. We could tell they were drunk...especially when they got close. We stood our ground and the one kid kept on yelling right in my face as I just stared him down. Then he pushed me and Elder Gray jumped in and pushed him back. The black kid threw a punch at elder gray, it was pretty weak, elder gray dodged and swung right back at him hitting him in right in the mouth. He stumbled back and started cussing up a storm in english and portuguese. I told them they better get outta here or we´ll call the police. The one kid was like "police? what are the police going to do?" I pulled out the phone and started dialing. The other kid that had stayed back most of the time was like "lets go..." so they started leaving with their tails between their legs, swearing at us as they left. I called the cops, told them that there was a kid here that had been beat up pretty bad. I told them the street and everything. They said they´d send an ambulance. We went and talked to they kid, he was pretty messed up, blood all over his face, his mouth had blood all inside and his nose was pretty messed up. He was conscience but in alot of pain. We kept him company untill the police came. They started questioning us and we told them all what happened. then the ambulance came and cleaned up the kid and loaded him into the ambulance. We gave the police our contact info and they said they´d be in touch with us....so it was a pretty crazy night. WE didnt get home untill aobut 11:30, we called president and told him all the happened..... So, im pretty tired today cuz of all that....but its all good now. Im pretty sure the kid will be ok.
But as for other stuff not as exciting that happened this week,
We marked Omid for baptism on the 2nd of May. Hes really excited. So are we.
Our investigators are doing really well. We met again with the Chinese Family and watched the restauration in Chinese. I think they understood the importance of that story more than portuguese people. We gave them a chinese book of mormon and they were really excited to start reading. Jian Ke was flipping through it the whole time. We also found out that he used to be a missionary for the Jehova´s witness, but left that church for some reason. But they seem to be really receptive. Im excited for when lili offers us to eat chinese food over there :D
Then we have another really cool new investigator. Her name is Afra. shes 28 and has 3 kids...recently divorced. We taught her about Joseph Smith and she told us a story about how she had a similar experience of searching for the true church, but eventually thought it didnt exist and gave up. so the first lesson went over really well with her. Shes hopefully gonna be watching conference this week.
As for the rest of our investigators, they are doing really well. We lost Dias though, he moved to a different area, so we helped him move. He was really greatful. Im also really greatful for the easyness of moving out of a house rather than an appartment building on the 4th floor.....its hard! haha.
We started teaching Elizabete´s husband boyfriend dude (shes the one that is really interested but cant get baptised cuz shes living with a boyfriend) he seemed interested...so maybe that will help. They´re a cool family.
Oh and yesterday was transfer calls day. Me and Elder Gray are staying together. But i decided to pull a prank on one of the elders in my district named Elder Willardson. Their phone ahs been having problems so I called them up and told them that president called me cuz their phone wasnt working and that they are combining their area with the area of mem martins. (another area in my district) and he bought it HARDCORE. with turned out to be bad, cuz right after he called the office...who talked to president...who was very confused about an area combining that he didnt know about...who called me to ask me about how it all came to be......so i got told that I shouldnt be making pranks about transfer calls even though april fools day is tomorrow....But he wasnt mad...so it was ok. He also said that I shouldnt write stories in emails tomorrow about us seeing some guy getting beat up and having to talk to the police, when it didnt really happen. But he said if I did to tell them APRIL FOOLS!
hahahhahahaha
Gotcha ;)
Well, that was about all in my week.
Happy April Fools everyone! Play tons of pranks!!!!
-Elder Rhett
So last night, we were walking home from an appointment that got over kinda late...so we were late getting home. It was already almost 10. And Cacém here is kinda a ghetto area, so lots of the time at night its not good to be out and about. But anyway, we were walking and we heard some shouting, we look over and right by some stairs there were these 2 black kids (about 16 or 17) beating the crap out of this other kid. He was huddled over on the ground as they were kicking him....bloody all over. I yelled at them "hey! what are you doing!!?" (in portuguese of course) they looked over and one of the kids starts yellin "what?! what!?" and they left the kid on the ground and started walking toward us. We could tell they were drunk...especially when they got close. We stood our ground and the one kid kept on yelling right in my face as I just stared him down. Then he pushed me and Elder Gray jumped in and pushed him back. The black kid threw a punch at elder gray, it was pretty weak, elder gray dodged and swung right back at him hitting him in right in the mouth. He stumbled back and started cussing up a storm in english and portuguese. I told them they better get outta here or we´ll call the police. The one kid was like "police? what are the police going to do?" I pulled out the phone and started dialing. The other kid that had stayed back most of the time was like "lets go..." so they started leaving with their tails between their legs, swearing at us as they left. I called the cops, told them that there was a kid here that had been beat up pretty bad. I told them the street and everything. They said they´d send an ambulance. We went and talked to they kid, he was pretty messed up, blood all over his face, his mouth had blood all inside and his nose was pretty messed up. He was conscience but in alot of pain. We kept him company untill the police came. They started questioning us and we told them all what happened. then the ambulance came and cleaned up the kid and loaded him into the ambulance. We gave the police our contact info and they said they´d be in touch with us....so it was a pretty crazy night. WE didnt get home untill aobut 11:30, we called president and told him all the happened..... So, im pretty tired today cuz of all that....but its all good now. Im pretty sure the kid will be ok.
But as for other stuff not as exciting that happened this week,
We marked Omid for baptism on the 2nd of May. Hes really excited. So are we.
Our investigators are doing really well. We met again with the Chinese Family and watched the restauration in Chinese. I think they understood the importance of that story more than portuguese people. We gave them a chinese book of mormon and they were really excited to start reading. Jian Ke was flipping through it the whole time. We also found out that he used to be a missionary for the Jehova´s witness, but left that church for some reason. But they seem to be really receptive. Im excited for when lili offers us to eat chinese food over there :D
Then we have another really cool new investigator. Her name is Afra. shes 28 and has 3 kids...recently divorced. We taught her about Joseph Smith and she told us a story about how she had a similar experience of searching for the true church, but eventually thought it didnt exist and gave up. so the first lesson went over really well with her. Shes hopefully gonna be watching conference this week.
As for the rest of our investigators, they are doing really well. We lost Dias though, he moved to a different area, so we helped him move. He was really greatful. Im also really greatful for the easyness of moving out of a house rather than an appartment building on the 4th floor.....its hard! haha.
We started teaching Elizabete´s husband boyfriend dude (shes the one that is really interested but cant get baptised cuz shes living with a boyfriend) he seemed interested...so maybe that will help. They´re a cool family.
Oh and yesterday was transfer calls day. Me and Elder Gray are staying together. But i decided to pull a prank on one of the elders in my district named Elder Willardson. Their phone ahs been having problems so I called them up and told them that president called me cuz their phone wasnt working and that they are combining their area with the area of mem martins. (another area in my district) and he bought it HARDCORE. with turned out to be bad, cuz right after he called the office...who talked to president...who was very confused about an area combining that he didnt know about...who called me to ask me about how it all came to be......so i got told that I shouldnt be making pranks about transfer calls even though april fools day is tomorrow....But he wasnt mad...so it was ok. He also said that I shouldnt write stories in emails tomorrow about us seeing some guy getting beat up and having to talk to the police, when it didnt really happen. But he said if I did to tell them APRIL FOOLS!
hahahhahahaha
Gotcha ;)
Well, that was about all in my week.
Happy April Fools everyone! Play tons of pranks!!!!
-Elder Rhett
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Coincidence?
This week was awesome....full of "coincidences"
To start out, our investigaters are doing great. Dias (the man that got his boy recently from Guine buissau) is doing really well. We invited him to be baptised, but he kinda beat around the bush. I know he has a testimony, especially cuz of the way he talks about the story of joseph smith, but hes scared of baptism or something.....But heºll come around. But sadly hes moving into a different area this week....so hopefully other missionaries can help him out.
Then we have Elizabete. Shes doing really well too...but still has a problem that shes living in with a boyfriend.... :S man thats such a problem here! but weºre making efforts to start teaching her boyfriend...maybe he´ll come around. Also we started teaching her son. hes really cool..... 11 yrs old.
Also this week we went to an Evangelical church. It was a sermon for Young Adults and there was a band there and they played Christian Brazillian Rock, and everyone was dancing and jumping around and singing...it was way fun. I was dancing around and everyone thought it was hilarious. Elder Gray didnt feel like it haha. but we met a bunch of cool people from there and they were all really nice.
And on monday, I had one of the most amazing days on my mission. The day started out with Interviews by president. He came to our chaple to interview all the missionareis in my Zone. Also we scheduled an interview for one of our investigators named Omid...whos from Iran. and theres new mission rules that all Muslims need to be interviewd by the mission president before getting taught. Omid is a really cool guy and was taught in the past, and really has a good testimony. He was interviewed and after the interview, president came out and was like "so when is he getting baptised" we told him we didnt have a baptismal date for him. and president was like, well get on it. It was a great interview and both president and Omid really liked it. So hopefully we can get him marked for baptism soon. After that we went to the post office to send off some letters and on our way back, we saw this one brazillian girl leaving her work (she works at a chinese store, we had gone into that store before and she helped us find tape...haha, and also we saw her at the one evangelical church we went to....) so we saw her leaving and we were walking behind her and we decided to go visit some people we had met while knocking doors, so we start going to that building....and we are still following this girl (she prolly thought we were stalking her or something) but anyway, we end up stopping at the same building, she goes in, then we go in....we get on different elevators, and we go to the 4th floor to visit this african family...they didnt have time or interess, but then we went to the 3rd floor to talk to this brazilian dude we met, and this old brazilian lady answered the door, we asked for Silvio, she said he wasnt there, and we look back and we see that same brazilian girl in the kitchen. We talked to the lady and she seemed interested....we set up an appointment to go there on saturday I think. Coincidence?
Then after that we went and visited this one kid named Loriano. hes an ex investigator, 15 yrs old. and on sunday we went and visited him and talked with him and 2 of his friends. they were way cool and wanted us to come back on monday, so we went back on this day and talked to them again..and there was 1 more of his friends...so because of this ex investigator, we have 4 new investigators! so then after we went to go visit this family, Henriques.
A few weeks ago, we were at Pizza Hut and we met this inactive family. they said they wanted us to come by...but after we got home, we kinda forgot about them. Then about a week ago, this one guy named Scott Milling called us. hes from UT, served here in portugal in 87, and wanted a number for a family here. WE didnt have the number but we had the address, so we told him wed go over to get the number for him. so we did a few days ago, and there was a kid that answered (14 yrs old) and he said to come back on Monday. And that teenager looked really familiar....i didnt know why though. And it wasnt until we were on our way back to their house on monday that I realized that it was the same family that we met at Pizza Hut. We knocked on the door, they let us in and told us that they want us to start teaching their 14 yr old son, cuz hes not baptised. So we taught him a little and left. Coincidence?
Then we went by this other contact we made the other day with a chinese lady. We set up to go by their house on monday. So we went by and they let us in. They are a young married couple. Lili and Jian Ke (Jack) and they have a little 2 yr old boy) We watched Finding Happiness iwth them in chinese. They loved it. Then come to find out that they are already christian....and they belong to Jehovas Witnesses!!!! AHHH!!! but they seemed receptive and wanted us to come back wiht a book of mormon in chinese. So that actually acomplished 2 of my mission goals. To get a chinese investigator and also to have a JW investigator!!! yay!
then after that we were hungry, but we were low on money...so we decided that if we had any money in our accounts we would go get pizza. We tried, not really expecting anything and we had 20euros! so we got the money and as we were doing that, who do we see but our friend Negrinho. He said that he has been trying to talk to us but no one was at the chapel! we explained that its usually only open on sunday...but he wanted to talk with us so we set up an appointment on thursday. The we went into this little shopping center to get pizza and who do we see, but Maíne (thgat one brazillian that saw us race cars) we talked with her for a while and told her about what we do as missionaries. She was amazed with our life style and we told her about the book of mormon and gave her a copy. We have an appointment to see her today! And if we werent hungry, we wouldnt have gone to the ATM...and we wouldnt have seen Negrinhno, and if we wouldnt have stopped and talked to him, we would have missed talking to Maíne....coincidence? Then we finished off this awesoem day with some Pepperoni Pizza from Pizza Hut! :D But it was an amazing day
And thats about all for my week!
Everything else is goin great here. I like this area, and i think ill end my mission here. I dont want to be transfered again, transfters are a pain.
well, Ate proximo!
-Elder Rhett
To start out, our investigaters are doing great. Dias (the man that got his boy recently from Guine buissau) is doing really well. We invited him to be baptised, but he kinda beat around the bush. I know he has a testimony, especially cuz of the way he talks about the story of joseph smith, but hes scared of baptism or something.....But heºll come around. But sadly hes moving into a different area this week....so hopefully other missionaries can help him out.
Then we have Elizabete. Shes doing really well too...but still has a problem that shes living in with a boyfriend.... :S man thats such a problem here! but weºre making efforts to start teaching her boyfriend...maybe he´ll come around. Also we started teaching her son. hes really cool..... 11 yrs old.
Also this week we went to an Evangelical church. It was a sermon for Young Adults and there was a band there and they played Christian Brazillian Rock, and everyone was dancing and jumping around and singing...it was way fun. I was dancing around and everyone thought it was hilarious. Elder Gray didnt feel like it haha. but we met a bunch of cool people from there and they were all really nice.
And on monday, I had one of the most amazing days on my mission. The day started out with Interviews by president. He came to our chaple to interview all the missionareis in my Zone. Also we scheduled an interview for one of our investigators named Omid...whos from Iran. and theres new mission rules that all Muslims need to be interviewd by the mission president before getting taught. Omid is a really cool guy and was taught in the past, and really has a good testimony. He was interviewed and after the interview, president came out and was like "so when is he getting baptised" we told him we didnt have a baptismal date for him. and president was like, well get on it. It was a great interview and both president and Omid really liked it. So hopefully we can get him marked for baptism soon. After that we went to the post office to send off some letters and on our way back, we saw this one brazillian girl leaving her work (she works at a chinese store, we had gone into that store before and she helped us find tape...haha, and also we saw her at the one evangelical church we went to....) so we saw her leaving and we were walking behind her and we decided to go visit some people we had met while knocking doors, so we start going to that building....and we are still following this girl (she prolly thought we were stalking her or something) but anyway, we end up stopping at the same building, she goes in, then we go in....we get on different elevators, and we go to the 4th floor to visit this african family...they didnt have time or interess, but then we went to the 3rd floor to talk to this brazilian dude we met, and this old brazilian lady answered the door, we asked for Silvio, she said he wasnt there, and we look back and we see that same brazilian girl in the kitchen. We talked to the lady and she seemed interested....we set up an appointment to go there on saturday I think. Coincidence?
Then after that we went and visited this one kid named Loriano. hes an ex investigator, 15 yrs old. and on sunday we went and visited him and talked with him and 2 of his friends. they were way cool and wanted us to come back on monday, so we went back on this day and talked to them again..and there was 1 more of his friends...so because of this ex investigator, we have 4 new investigators! so then after we went to go visit this family, Henriques.
A few weeks ago, we were at Pizza Hut and we met this inactive family. they said they wanted us to come by...but after we got home, we kinda forgot about them. Then about a week ago, this one guy named Scott Milling called us. hes from UT, served here in portugal in 87, and wanted a number for a family here. WE didnt have the number but we had the address, so we told him wed go over to get the number for him. so we did a few days ago, and there was a kid that answered (14 yrs old) and he said to come back on Monday. And that teenager looked really familiar....i didnt know why though. And it wasnt until we were on our way back to their house on monday that I realized that it was the same family that we met at Pizza Hut. We knocked on the door, they let us in and told us that they want us to start teaching their 14 yr old son, cuz hes not baptised. So we taught him a little and left. Coincidence?
Then we went by this other contact we made the other day with a chinese lady. We set up to go by their house on monday. So we went by and they let us in. They are a young married couple. Lili and Jian Ke (Jack) and they have a little 2 yr old boy) We watched Finding Happiness iwth them in chinese. They loved it. Then come to find out that they are already christian....and they belong to Jehovas Witnesses!!!! AHHH!!! but they seemed receptive and wanted us to come back wiht a book of mormon in chinese. So that actually acomplished 2 of my mission goals. To get a chinese investigator and also to have a JW investigator!!! yay!
then after that we were hungry, but we were low on money...so we decided that if we had any money in our accounts we would go get pizza. We tried, not really expecting anything and we had 20euros! so we got the money and as we were doing that, who do we see but our friend Negrinho. He said that he has been trying to talk to us but no one was at the chapel! we explained that its usually only open on sunday...but he wanted to talk with us so we set up an appointment on thursday. The we went into this little shopping center to get pizza and who do we see, but Maíne (thgat one brazillian that saw us race cars) we talked with her for a while and told her about what we do as missionaries. She was amazed with our life style and we told her about the book of mormon and gave her a copy. We have an appointment to see her today! And if we werent hungry, we wouldnt have gone to the ATM...and we wouldnt have seen Negrinhno, and if we wouldnt have stopped and talked to him, we would have missed talking to Maíne....coincidence? Then we finished off this awesoem day with some Pepperoni Pizza from Pizza Hut! :D But it was an amazing day
And thats about all for my week!
Everything else is goin great here. I like this area, and i think ill end my mission here. I dont want to be transfered again, transfters are a pain.
well, Ate proximo!
-Elder Rhett
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Alternative finding?
Another week gone by, time really does to seem to be flying.
This week was good, except for on Friday the 13th. That day it seemed EVERYTHING went wrong. All of our 7 appointments fell through and it seemed like noone wanted to talk with us. Then when we were walking home at night we realized it was friday the 13th and then it all made sense haha.
Oh and last week, well 2 weeks ago, (in not sure if i already shared the 1st part of this story but whatever) Me Elder Gray and 2 other elders from my district went to go eat at the japanese restaurant. and as we were leaving we noticed in the window of a store this really cool toy trucks, that only cost 5o cents each! so we each decided to buy one then race them. So we each picked out one, went to this really big hill that has a raingutter going down it and raced them for a few minutes, and mine won everytime!
anyway, fast forward to last pday after i did emails. I was sitting here in the library waiting for elder gray to be done with emails and this girl (in her 20s...and if i wasnt on a mission, i would say very cute :P) leans over to me and was like "are you the mormons?" and i said....ya..... then she said "i saw you racing toy cars the other day, i was sitting in my window laughing the whole time!" It was cool! we started talking, but then we had to go and i gave her a passalong card with our number on it and told her to call us.
Well, a few days passed and we went to go visit an inactive member, and on the way home we were crossing an overpass and who do we see, none other than that one girl and her sister! we talk for a little and they asked when church was and where it was. We told them. They siad they couldnt make it this sunday cuz they were going to Coimbra but wanted to come. WE told them about english class which is on wednesdays and they wanted to come. So its all set up for them to come to english class tonight, hopefully they turn into good investigators, they seem pretty interested....(hopefully its not JUST in me :P)
This week was good, except for on Friday the 13th. That day it seemed EVERYTHING went wrong. All of our 7 appointments fell through and it seemed like noone wanted to talk with us. Then when we were walking home at night we realized it was friday the 13th and then it all made sense haha.
Oh and last week, well 2 weeks ago, (in not sure if i already shared the 1st part of this story but whatever) Me Elder Gray and 2 other elders from my district went to go eat at the japanese restaurant. and as we were leaving we noticed in the window of a store this really cool toy trucks, that only cost 5o cents each! so we each decided to buy one then race them. So we each picked out one, went to this really big hill that has a raingutter going down it and raced them for a few minutes, and mine won everytime!
anyway, fast forward to last pday after i did emails. I was sitting here in the library waiting for elder gray to be done with emails and this girl (in her 20s...and if i wasnt on a mission, i would say very cute :P) leans over to me and was like "are you the mormons?" and i said....ya..... then she said "i saw you racing toy cars the other day, i was sitting in my window laughing the whole time!" It was cool! we started talking, but then we had to go and i gave her a passalong card with our number on it and told her to call us.
Well, a few days passed and we went to go visit an inactive member, and on the way home we were crossing an overpass and who do we see, none other than that one girl and her sister! we talk for a little and they asked when church was and where it was. We told them. They siad they couldnt make it this sunday cuz they were going to Coimbra but wanted to come. WE told them about english class which is on wednesdays and they wanted to come. So its all set up for them to come to english class tonight, hopefully they turn into good investigators, they seem pretty interested....(hopefully its not JUST in me :P)
We had an appointment with a really cool active family named Familia Andrade (Irma Isabel was baptised about the time when dad was on his mission and Irmao Andrade went on a mission about the same time as dad, i think it might ahve been a year before.) but anyway, we had dinner with them and their little daughter 10, or 11 years old, named anaisabel had a friend over named Veronica. And her story is really cool. They go to school together and Veronica started asking Ana Isabel questions about why she did stuff differently and why was acted differently. Well she explained and little by little started telling her about the church. Veronica is part of an Athiest family, and she didnt even know who Jesus was. So they had talked a little and veronica was really curious and REALLY wanted to go to church. So last weekend, they were assigned to do a school project together and they set it up so they could have a sleepover on saturday to sunday. But the real reason for the sleepover is cuz she wanted to go to church. So she went to church and LOVED it. then we came over after and ate lunch iwth them then taught about the apostacy with cups...building the cup pyramid. She loved it and at the end we gave her a book of mormon...and wow....i have never seen someone so happy to have a copy of the book of mormon. She was surprised we were giving it to her and said thankyou very sincerely. She just stared at the book for a while then started flipping through the pages. It was amazing. She looked through the pictures and asked about them and she really wanted to read and pray about it. Now i really know what the scriptures mean about being childlike. Watching her have such a great love, respect and excitement for what we were saying and for the book of mormon really is beyond discription. Just seeing how pure of mind she was and humble enough to put aside all the teaching of her past, because she really felt something about this. I wish everyone could be childlike.....the mission would be so much greater....but sadly its a very rare thing....too many people are hardened and confused by the world. They arent pure enough to really tune into the spirit.....but thats what we have to work with. But ya....that was an amazing experience.
This week I also made a skate video! I was walking in another area and there was a skatepark, so i decided to do a run, Elder smith took my camera and sang an ACDC song as i ran down the halfpipe, off the jump, did a grind, stalled on the other quarter pipe, did a grab off another jump, went on the last rail and RIGHt at the end of the rail, i ate it hard! haha. it was great. all on video too....iºll have to practice my extreme runnign skills haha.
As for our investigators.....weºre having to drop like all of them. This area is good for people to listen to us...but there are lots of lazy people in this area, so weºre dropping the people who arent doing what they need to so we can find those that are really ready. Its a really tough thing to do...but it has to be done. We do have a few investigators that are doing really well, like Dias. Hes preparing to be baptised. Hes really cool. just hasnt recieved an answer yet. then we have elizabet. Shes really cool, she just needs to know what to do with her live in boyfriend situation. Then we have Vany-whos a daughter of the family that got baptised my first week here. And we have a few other cool investigators....like Negrinho and Omid...and others.
Anyway, thats aobut my week.
ficam bem!
-Rhett
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
the weathers getting better!
Man its sooooo nice to have better weather. It seems liek all of portugal is lightening up with the weather. Im wearing a short sleave shirt now!!! :D
Also, this week i made some AMAZING maple bar donuts....i really perfecting the recipe. mmm more reason to be happy
BUt as far as investigators, a few cool things have happened.
Our investigator Dias has been trying to get his son from Guinee Bisau for 9 years but the Govt wasnt letting him. and hes been praying and meeting with churches and stuff. But he said it wasnt untill he started meeting with us that finally the govt let his son come and now his son is here living with him. Its cool.
Also, our new investigator Clayton that i talked about last week....we went back over to his house and he was really depressed cuz his wife (who hes separated from) stole his daughter and fled to spain. and he was really depressed about it. We talked to him and helped him out a little, but then we came back a few days later to see how he was doing. and when we were there his wife and daughter showed up! it was the first time he saw her since the first time we were there, cuz it was that night when we found him that his wife and daughter disappeared and it was that night when we were there that they came back. Another cool thing.
But this week has been going really well, it has been a happy week. Today weºre playing soccer...hopefully Ill be good enough to take on Aisha when i get back! haha.
Ease it like a sunday morning!
-Rhett
Also, this week i made some AMAZING maple bar donuts....i really perfecting the recipe. mmm more reason to be happy
BUt as far as investigators, a few cool things have happened.
Our investigator Dias has been trying to get his son from Guinee Bisau for 9 years but the Govt wasnt letting him. and hes been praying and meeting with churches and stuff. But he said it wasnt untill he started meeting with us that finally the govt let his son come and now his son is here living with him. Its cool.
Also, our new investigator Clayton that i talked about last week....we went back over to his house and he was really depressed cuz his wife (who hes separated from) stole his daughter and fled to spain. and he was really depressed about it. We talked to him and helped him out a little, but then we came back a few days later to see how he was doing. and when we were there his wife and daughter showed up! it was the first time he saw her since the first time we were there, cuz it was that night when we found him that his wife and daughter disappeared and it was that night when we were there that they came back. Another cool thing.
But this week has been going really well, it has been a happy week. Today weºre playing soccer...hopefully Ill be good enough to take on Aisha when i get back! haha.
Ease it like a sunday morning!
-Rhett
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
A week of miracles
Things here are going great. Me and Elder Gray are getting along good. And the work here is really fun. A few cool things have happened this week:
A few days ago I was on division in Mem Martins (which is like the actual city of Sintra) and we were knocking doors and not having much success. SO we decided to say a prayer and ask what we should do. Well we decided to keep on knocking. THe next building, no one even let us in to enter the building from the intercom, so we went to the next building and there someone was leaving, so we walked right in. We went to the top floor (floor 5) and started knocking. Thats when the miracle started i guess. We were just having a good time, joking around and knocking and in that building at least 1 person from each of the 5 floors (including the ground floor 0, so 6 actual floors in total) answered the door and all 7 of the people/families we talked to had smiles on their faces and all of them wanted a return appointment. We even got to save someone who was stuck in the elevator in that building and that wanted a return appt. It was really cool to see what following the spirit plus a good attitude can do! haha.
Another really cool thing happened last sunday. It was fast sunday and I was fasting for my district to get new progressing investigators. And that day we went by a potential investigator to see if we could teach her. No one answered. But i heard someone home in the apparment behind us on the other side of the hallway. So I decided to knock it. A brazillian guy answered the door with his little 2 yr old girl. We introduced ourselves and he let us in to teach him. Turns out that his wife just left him and his daughter and they are looking to get a divorce. so we started talking about the restoration and how the gospel blesses families. Then his nephew came in hes 15 years old, and we started teaching him. At the end of the lesson they both wanted us to come back, so we are, this friday. So thats 2 new investigators. Then later that night we went by an inactive member, to teach her. She lives with her sister. So we went in and invited her sister who isnt a member to listen in. Her sister was interested and wanted us to come back, so that was a total of 3 new investigators in one day. IT was really cool. God is a cool dude. :P
~Yesterday we didnt have much to do in the afternoon, so we called up this 20 yr old dude that came to our english class the other day to see if we could talk to him and hear him play guitar (cuz he told us he played) he was like SURE so we met up with him, went to a park and he played guitar, the only song we all knew was Celine Dion- My heart will go on, from titanic. So he played it on his guitar and we sang in the park haha, and some other guy listened in and came over and was like "I really like that music..." so we started talking to him, and now weºre gonna teach him later today!
So thats about all the cool things that happened this week. Well there were more I guess....like we got fed by Familia Martins (a fam my dad baptised) and they love me cuz of my dad so they want to feed us everyweek haha. Thanks dad! :D~
Well have a good week everyone!
Till next time!
Signing off!
-Elder Rhett
PS Rainly Pdays suck......
A few days ago I was on division in Mem Martins (which is like the actual city of Sintra) and we were knocking doors and not having much success. SO we decided to say a prayer and ask what we should do. Well we decided to keep on knocking. THe next building, no one even let us in to enter the building from the intercom, so we went to the next building and there someone was leaving, so we walked right in. We went to the top floor (floor 5) and started knocking. Thats when the miracle started i guess. We were just having a good time, joking around and knocking and in that building at least 1 person from each of the 5 floors (including the ground floor 0, so 6 actual floors in total) answered the door and all 7 of the people/families we talked to had smiles on their faces and all of them wanted a return appointment. We even got to save someone who was stuck in the elevator in that building and that wanted a return appt. It was really cool to see what following the spirit plus a good attitude can do! haha.
Another really cool thing happened last sunday. It was fast sunday and I was fasting for my district to get new progressing investigators. And that day we went by a potential investigator to see if we could teach her. No one answered. But i heard someone home in the apparment behind us on the other side of the hallway. So I decided to knock it. A brazillian guy answered the door with his little 2 yr old girl. We introduced ourselves and he let us in to teach him. Turns out that his wife just left him and his daughter and they are looking to get a divorce. so we started talking about the restoration and how the gospel blesses families. Then his nephew came in hes 15 years old, and we started teaching him. At the end of the lesson they both wanted us to come back, so we are, this friday. So thats 2 new investigators. Then later that night we went by an inactive member, to teach her. She lives with her sister. So we went in and invited her sister who isnt a member to listen in. Her sister was interested and wanted us to come back, so that was a total of 3 new investigators in one day. IT was really cool. God is a cool dude. :P
~Yesterday we didnt have much to do in the afternoon, so we called up this 20 yr old dude that came to our english class the other day to see if we could talk to him and hear him play guitar (cuz he told us he played) he was like SURE so we met up with him, went to a park and he played guitar, the only song we all knew was Celine Dion- My heart will go on, from titanic. So he played it on his guitar and we sang in the park haha, and some other guy listened in and came over and was like "I really like that music..." so we started talking to him, and now weºre gonna teach him later today!
So thats about all the cool things that happened this week. Well there were more I guess....like we got fed by Familia Martins (a fam my dad baptised) and they love me cuz of my dad so they want to feed us everyweek haha. Thanks dad! :D~
Well have a good week everyone!
Till next time!
Signing off!
-Elder Rhett
PS Rainly Pdays suck......
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Greetings from Cacem
So Im here in Cacém now. Its a cool area, it reminds me of Barreiro, but a little nicer. Theres a high african population here. And in my ward I have President Martins, his wife and 2 of his sons, Daniel and Simão. Its cool getting to know a family better that my dad knew. I dont know if he really even knew Simão. And if he knew Daniel, he would have been just a little kid. Also Ive met some other members that knew my dad, so its pretty cool.
Some other good news, I walked into 2 baptisms! haha. A mom and son, the dad is already a member. They are a really cool family and its fun helping them get accostomed to church, and doing family night and family prayer and stuff. theyre names are Eneida and Yuri.
Theres also quite a few investigators here that are cool. We are teaching a guy from Iran, that seems really promising. Except cuz hes muslim, he has to have an interview with Pres Terry before we can really continue progressing with him.
Oh and this week, a funny story happened. We were passing by potential investigators and we were entering a house and there was a lady smoking infront of one of the appartments we were going into. I started trying to talk to her but she didnt want anything and was very vocal about it, didnt even let me talk. Wouldnt even accept a pass along card So we just left it and went into the apparment and knocked on the door of the potential investigator, they werent home. Well we left the building and there were some people loading a couch into a truck. We asked if they needed help and a voice said they did. I looked around and it was the rude lady that was smoking infront of the building. So we told them we could help move and she was happy about it. The 2 guys that were there werent too happy about it and were like "the furniture is really heavy, i dont know if you really want too" i told them that we do exercises every morning and we would love to help." so we ended up helping these people move, from the 5th floor. it was cool. And at the end, we gave them a passalong card! so, sometimes it just takes a little more work to do the work of the lord haha.
Oh and good news, theres a japanese restarant in my district! we went there yesterday! it was good :D
Long live Japan! ahha
-Rhett
Some other good news, I walked into 2 baptisms! haha. A mom and son, the dad is already a member. They are a really cool family and its fun helping them get accostomed to church, and doing family night and family prayer and stuff. theyre names are Eneida and Yuri.
Theres also quite a few investigators here that are cool. We are teaching a guy from Iran, that seems really promising. Except cuz hes muslim, he has to have an interview with Pres Terry before we can really continue progressing with him.
Oh and this week, a funny story happened. We were passing by potential investigators and we were entering a house and there was a lady smoking infront of one of the appartments we were going into. I started trying to talk to her but she didnt want anything and was very vocal about it, didnt even let me talk. Wouldnt even accept a pass along card So we just left it and went into the apparment and knocked on the door of the potential investigator, they werent home. Well we left the building and there were some people loading a couch into a truck. We asked if they needed help and a voice said they did. I looked around and it was the rude lady that was smoking infront of the building. So we told them we could help move and she was happy about it. The 2 guys that were there werent too happy about it and were like "the furniture is really heavy, i dont know if you really want too" i told them that we do exercises every morning and we would love to help." so we ended up helping these people move, from the 5th floor. it was cool. And at the end, we gave them a passalong card! so, sometimes it just takes a little more work to do the work of the lord haha.
Oh and good news, theres a japanese restarant in my district! we went there yesterday! it was good :D
Long live Japan! ahha
-Rhett
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
I saw Elder Bednar
Hey everyone!
So guess what!
Im getting transfered! crazy! Its weird leaving this area, ive been here for so long! but Im going to one of Dads old areas (i think) Cacém! Im excited. Except im not going Zone Leader. I was kinda bummed about that, cuz that means almost for sure i wont go Zone Leader the rest of my mission. Oh well. Cacem is gonna be really cool. Familia Martins lives there and they love me cuz of dad haha.
But the transfers were crazy this time. So many crazy things happened. like a bunch of Zone Leaders changed to Senior Comps, which almost never happens. And a bunch of people got changed around and just a bunch of unexpected stuff happened.
Oh and some other good news Elder David A Bednar came to Lisbon this week and we had a bunch of cool meetings with him. On sunday night there was a general meeting with him. It was at a stake center in Oeiras, and there were TONS of people there. all the sacrament room and cultral hall and every single room and all the hallways were PACKED. It was crazy. And it was a question and answer session. It was awesome. Then monday morning all the missionaries in the mission got together and we got to have a Question and answer session with him and got to shake his hand and everything. then on monday night there was another q and A session for all the young single adults and that was really cool too. I was soooo exhausted after everyting. I can only imagine how JS felt after seeing Jesus and God. I was out of it just spending a few hours with an apostle. haha. But it was really spiritual and i learned alot. Definately an experience I wont forget.
Oh and crazy story of the week.
We were at the mall eating at a foodcourt last pday and we were walking out and we heard this lady screaming. I turn around to see this little 4 yr old kid hanging onto the railing on the outside of an escalator and going up. An old man on the escalator grabbed him and made sure he wouldnt fall but as he got higher, the ceiling was coming up, So the kid started gettign smashed against where the escalator meets the ceiling. luckily someone pressed the stop button and he dropped a couple feet onto the top of a restarant in the foodcourt, that had a very slanted roof. I ran over to the bottom of that restarant so someone was there if he fell. Luckily he didnt and his dad ran up the escalator and pulled him up to safety. But it was pretty intense.
But thats about it. I our investigators are doing well, we had a bunch of them come see Elder Bednar, so thats good...pretty soon a bunch will be baptised here! :)
Oh, my new address in Cacém is:
Rua Almeida Garrett
Nº4 2ºA
2735 Cacém
Portugal
So guess what!
Im getting transfered! crazy! Its weird leaving this area, ive been here for so long! but Im going to one of Dads old areas (i think) Cacém! Im excited. Except im not going Zone Leader. I was kinda bummed about that, cuz that means almost for sure i wont go Zone Leader the rest of my mission. Oh well. Cacem is gonna be really cool. Familia Martins lives there and they love me cuz of dad haha.
But the transfers were crazy this time. So many crazy things happened. like a bunch of Zone Leaders changed to Senior Comps, which almost never happens. And a bunch of people got changed around and just a bunch of unexpected stuff happened.
Oh and some other good news Elder David A Bednar came to Lisbon this week and we had a bunch of cool meetings with him. On sunday night there was a general meeting with him. It was at a stake center in Oeiras, and there were TONS of people there. all the sacrament room and cultral hall and every single room and all the hallways were PACKED. It was crazy. And it was a question and answer session. It was awesome. Then monday morning all the missionaries in the mission got together and we got to have a Question and answer session with him and got to shake his hand and everything. then on monday night there was another q and A session for all the young single adults and that was really cool too. I was soooo exhausted after everyting. I can only imagine how JS felt after seeing Jesus and God. I was out of it just spending a few hours with an apostle. haha. But it was really spiritual and i learned alot. Definately an experience I wont forget.
Oh and crazy story of the week.
We were at the mall eating at a foodcourt last pday and we were walking out and we heard this lady screaming. I turn around to see this little 4 yr old kid hanging onto the railing on the outside of an escalator and going up. An old man on the escalator grabbed him and made sure he wouldnt fall but as he got higher, the ceiling was coming up, So the kid started gettign smashed against where the escalator meets the ceiling. luckily someone pressed the stop button and he dropped a couple feet onto the top of a restarant in the foodcourt, that had a very slanted roof. I ran over to the bottom of that restarant so someone was there if he fell. Luckily he didnt and his dad ran up the escalator and pulled him up to safety. But it was pretty intense.
But thats about it. I our investigators are doing well, we had a bunch of them come see Elder Bednar, so thats good...pretty soon a bunch will be baptised here! :)
Oh, my new address in Cacém is:
Rua Almeida Garrett
Nº4 2ºA
2735 Cacém
Portugal
Have a good week!
-Rhett
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Im famous by association
Hey everyone!
its alot colder than last winter and has rained TONS more...it has rained at least once every day for 2 months or something...a long time. Im excited for spring too. today has been a good day so far. nice and sunny,....of course that doesnt mean much, it is very possible that it could turn cloudy and rain like it has done.
Things are doing well....except i have bad news......we lost half our area and almost all of our investigators.,.....Last sunday they moved our ward boundary and about 10 very cool very active members have to go to a different ward. Including Luzie (one of my baptisms) her fiancee (irmao boaventura) and a bunch of other members. AND we lost Milton and a BUNCH of new investigators we had. 8 of them. Now the Irmas of the other ward are gonna get them. they´re happy....but it took away everything from us. Luckily we still have Welton, whos marked for baptism, and still have a few investigators. but weºre gonna have to get to work. But we worked alot in the area that was cut from our ward...it was a very good area, very ready, but now we cant work in that area....so we have to branch out.
But something cool, there is a portuguese TV sitcom show (mainly for teenagers) here called Morangos Com Açucar (Strawberries with Sugar) and we were on the metro with a member, and he pointed out this one teenager and said --that kid is an actor, from Morangos com açucar. I didnt believe him at first, but then i saw a group of girls looking over at him and whipering to eachother and giggleing....so that helped me believe him. ahah
so we get on the metro and hes standing right by me, listening to music and i lean over to him and say "so my friend over there says your an actor" and he said "ya, from a sitcom here called Morangos com Açucar." I told him i had never seen it....then he said i should watch it...then we just started talking, i asked him how he liked bein an actor, told him i studied cinema..stuff like that. He was actually a pretty cool kid, i ended up giving him a restoration pamphlet. haha His name is Raul, But i dont know if thats his characters name or his real name.....haha
And actually earlier that day, we went to lunch with that same member and we left lunch and we saw a fight...5 teenagers against 5 security guards. Now you might be thinking "oh that cant be too much of a fight, the security guards can handle 5 teenage punk kids" but then you have to realize.....that Im in portugual. 1. Everyone here is a wimp and normally yell and act tough, but dont throw blows.... 2. when they do...its very not affective. The security guards and the kids were pushing eachother yelling...the security guards even acted less mature than that kids they were trying to get the kids out, one short stalky security guard was very firery and had to be separated from the kids...it was a mess....a joke. The short security guard kicked one of the kids, it looked funny and didnt look liek it hurt at all haha...but finally the kids just left and the security guards felt very cool. haha. I dont feel very secure in this country. Be greatful for the good public services that we have in the USA, all public services are a joke here. So even if the police pull you over and give you a ticket you dont agree with, be greatful that they are actually working, unlike many of the police here.
Nothing else really exciting happened this week.....oh i did get to see a picture of my house. that was cool. we were at a members house and he was on Google Earth and he wanted to see where I lived. So i gave him the address and i didnt know that in the newer google earth they have pictures of the streets...like panoramic pictures! so i got to see my road and a front view of my house and other sites around.....it was cool...the member enjoyed seeing where i lived.
And thats it
Till next time
-Elder Rhett Hildebrandt
its alot colder than last winter and has rained TONS more...it has rained at least once every day for 2 months or something...a long time. Im excited for spring too. today has been a good day so far. nice and sunny,....of course that doesnt mean much, it is very possible that it could turn cloudy and rain like it has done.
Things are doing well....except i have bad news......we lost half our area and almost all of our investigators.,.....Last sunday they moved our ward boundary and about 10 very cool very active members have to go to a different ward. Including Luzie (one of my baptisms) her fiancee (irmao boaventura) and a bunch of other members. AND we lost Milton and a BUNCH of new investigators we had. 8 of them. Now the Irmas of the other ward are gonna get them. they´re happy....but it took away everything from us. Luckily we still have Welton, whos marked for baptism, and still have a few investigators. but weºre gonna have to get to work. But we worked alot in the area that was cut from our ward...it was a very good area, very ready, but now we cant work in that area....so we have to branch out.
But something cool, there is a portuguese TV sitcom show (mainly for teenagers) here called Morangos Com Açucar (Strawberries with Sugar) and we were on the metro with a member, and he pointed out this one teenager and said --that kid is an actor, from Morangos com açucar. I didnt believe him at first, but then i saw a group of girls looking over at him and whipering to eachother and giggleing....so that helped me believe him. ahah
so we get on the metro and hes standing right by me, listening to music and i lean over to him and say "so my friend over there says your an actor" and he said "ya, from a sitcom here called Morangos com Açucar." I told him i had never seen it....then he said i should watch it...then we just started talking, i asked him how he liked bein an actor, told him i studied cinema..stuff like that. He was actually a pretty cool kid, i ended up giving him a restoration pamphlet. haha His name is Raul, But i dont know if thats his characters name or his real name.....haha
And actually earlier that day, we went to lunch with that same member and we left lunch and we saw a fight...5 teenagers against 5 security guards. Now you might be thinking "oh that cant be too much of a fight, the security guards can handle 5 teenage punk kids" but then you have to realize.....that Im in portugual. 1. Everyone here is a wimp and normally yell and act tough, but dont throw blows.... 2. when they do...its very not affective. The security guards and the kids were pushing eachother yelling...the security guards even acted less mature than that kids they were trying to get the kids out, one short stalky security guard was very firery and had to be separated from the kids...it was a mess....a joke. The short security guard kicked one of the kids, it looked funny and didnt look liek it hurt at all haha...but finally the kids just left and the security guards felt very cool. haha. I dont feel very secure in this country. Be greatful for the good public services that we have in the USA, all public services are a joke here. So even if the police pull you over and give you a ticket you dont agree with, be greatful that they are actually working, unlike many of the police here.
Nothing else really exciting happened this week.....oh i did get to see a picture of my house. that was cool. we were at a members house and he was on Google Earth and he wanted to see where I lived. So i gave him the address and i didnt know that in the newer google earth they have pictures of the streets...like panoramic pictures! so i got to see my road and a front view of my house and other sites around.....it was cool...the member enjoyed seeing where i lived.
And thats it
Till next time
-Elder Rhett Hildebrandt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)